EU chief Donald Tusk has said EU states have agreed to start internal preparations for the next stage of Brexit talks.

Brussels has so far maintained it cannot speak about a future trade deal with Britain until sufficient progress has been made on key areas like citizens’ rights post Brexit and how much the UK will cough up to divorce the EU.

It comes after UK prime minister Theresa May said on Friday she had told fellow EU leaders that Britain would honour its commitments to the EU on Brexit and that other countries would not lose out in the current budget plan.

Asked whether she had told leaders over dinner on Thursday that she was ready to increase Britain’s financial offer, May told reporters that she had repeated points made in a speech at Florence last month. EU leaders said May had made no new pledges and repeated her view that many of the EU’s demands had “no legal framework”.